A Few Minutes With Eric Wind

There was a time, gentle reader, when buying vintage watches carried more than a bit of risk. I am not referring to fakes in the traditional Canal Street vein. What makes vintage watches desirable is not only the provenance (although that is certainly important), but also the stories (both known and untold) that the scuffs, dings, and patina tell about not only the watch but those who wore it. But with age comes maintenance, and maintenance sometimes means that an original part might not be available, or put more plainly, it often is more expeditious to use a "secondary market" solution. 

So in these increasingly uncertain times, it is great to know that there is at least one guy out there making sure that you not only get the vintage watch you want, but that it comes to you as advertised.  Ladies and Gentlemen, a few minutes with Eric Wind -

Courtesy of Eric Wind

Henki Time -

What was your first watch?  Was it a gift?  Is there a story behind it?

Courtesy of YoJoe.com

Eric Wind - My first watch was a G.I. Joe digital watch with a compass embedded in the green rubber strap. I loved it! My first mechanical watch was a Hamilton Neil my mom gave me in 2008 after my grandfather passed. It was a gift from my grandmother to my grandfather for their wedding in 1947 and my grandfather wore it daily his whole life. It opened up my passion for vintage watches!

HT - When you were a boy, what did you want to be when you "grew up"?

EW - I was also interested in politics and public service, so I was interested in running for office at some point in my life.


HT - You attended Georgetown as an undergraduate and then Oxford for an MBA - not necessarily a mainstream path! What did you study at Georgetown? And why Oxford for an MBA?

EW - I studied International Politics in Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and business in the MBA program at the University of Oxford. I was always interested in studying at Oxford and I thought I would benefit from learning more about business. I loved the idea of studying business with an international cohort of students and I liked that it was a one-year program so I could return to working after a year.


HT - What got you into the world of watches in the first place?

EW - My grandfather's Hamilton Neil was given to me around the time I stumbled on HODINKEE back in 2008. HODINKEE was initially almost exclusively about vintage watches and reading about all these iconic vintage watches, from the "James Bond" Submariner to the "Steve McQueen" Monaco made me extremely interested.

HT - You then found yourself in the world of watch auctions, how did that come about?

Courtesy of Eric Wind / Wind Vintage

EW - I made a name for myself writing for HODINKEE and was recruited to Christie's by John Reardon. I joined Christie's in 2015 as Vice President, Senior Specialist of Watches and it was a whirlwind after that!

Courtesy of the Harry Truman Presidential Library

HT - You are well known as one of the top authorities on the Vulcain Cricket. What is it about this somewhat peculiar watch that attracted you?

EW - A Vulcain Cricket was one of the first vintage watches I purchased and I still have that one! Crickets have woken me up countless times. I love the history of the development of the Cricket as well as the aesthetics. I also love their presidential history.


HT - What is your take on "re-editions" / "homage" pieces? (i.e. DOXA SUB re-editions, Vulcain Cricket re-editions, etc.)

EW - I prefer the originals as a general rule!

HT - Your reputation is for not only being extremely well informed on all things vintage, but being the one person out there who can (to paraphrase the G man in Raiders of the Lost Arc) "obtain the unobtainable".  What attracts you to vintage?

EW - I prefer vintage watches to modern watches for collecting because they are all unique in terms of how they look now, the patina that many develop, and the more handmade nature of these watches compared to their modern counterparts.


HT - When you're not researching and locating rare and amazing watches, what do you like to do for fun?

EW - I love to play with my kids, whether it is dressup with my girls Adelina and Gemma or golf, soccer or basketball with my son Charlie!

HT - Of all the watches that have come and gone in your personal collection, what is the one that "got away"?

EW - Fortunately, I don't have too many regrets about watches I should not have sold! And there is always another watch just a FedEx box away around here, so there is always something new to see each day.

HT - If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?

EW - Hard to say - I can't imagine doing anything else at this point!


HT - What advice do you have for the next Eric Wind out there?

EW - Keep learning some new things each day!

Making American Watchmaking Great Again...in Switzerland.

Okay,  a little back story and some inside baseball.  Following Hamilton, Waltham is perhaps the best known of the "original" made in America watch companies. Hamilton was slowly diluted and ultimately acquired and moved lock, stock and mainspring to Switzerland and is now part of the SWATCH Group. Despite what their crack marketing team would have you believe  the brand today is about as American as Nutella - you can buy it here, but you'll most likely go for strawberry jam or peanut butter. 

Waltham has had a much bumpier passage. It has been traded back and forth like a slightly damaged (not in mint condition) Spiderman Amazing Fantasy #15. 

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Sure, it's interesting, it has historical "what's it", but because it has been neglected, it is not going to fetch "new/mint in mylar" prices. A few folks tried to take whatever goofball idea that they had and slap the name Waltham on it and hope it would sell. And this has proven that there is more to a successful watch brand than simply a well-known brand name.

One thing that is known is that the Waltham name has been registered in one form or another by a few different entities, but the word around the campfire is that the actual rights to use the name in the manufacture and sale of watches belongs to one unique owner based in New York, and according to the TESS search system, it is M. Z. BERGER & CO.

So when news popped into the Tempus Fugit mail box this Boxing Day morning that the Waltham Depollier (or the Field & Marine) watch will be coming back - like Return of the Jedi (props to Mohandas Dewese - that's Kool Moe Dee to you), I was curious.

Here is the info just as it arrived -

Courtesy of Watch Angeles

The forerunner of the Dive Watch is coming back!
 

All dive watches watches owe their existence to the Waltham Depollier Waterproof "Field & Marine" Watch, the watch that started the waterproof market. 

In February 2021 a new chapter of the biggest story in American Watchmaking - Waltham Watches - will be Crowdmanufactured by Watch Angels.

Follow the project on our social medial channels and sign-up to participate.

And this is where, gentle reader, I have to admit that I am a bit, well, scoobied. Does this mean that the "Angels" at Watch Angels have struck a deal? Does it mean that the watch will bear the Waltham name, or the Depollier label?

And truly confusing, why use both names?

They are currently operating out of a website labeled: https://waltham.ch

And good news for all of you out there who believe in pixies - a truly nationalistic tag line to appeal to real red-blooded Americans -

Making American watchmaking great again.

And then if you read the top menu language, that apparently means - Making American watchmaking great again...in Switzerland.

Well, we will wait, and we will see.

In the meantime, for those of you seeking some interesting background on a real Waltham Trench Watch from a trained historian and actual archeologist, I highly recommend Dr. Jack Carlson's entry in A Man & His Watch.  Just promise me you won't buy it from Hodinkee ; )

The Type II Montgomery Marginal Minute Style Dial

 From RGM -

Courtesy of RGM

This specific version is the Type II Montgomery Marginal Minute Style Dial.

I will leave it to the words of RGM themselves to describe it -

Courtesy of RGM

Henry S. Montgomery was the General Watch & Clock Inspector of the AT&SF Railroad from 1896 to 1923. Mr. Montgomery patented his first marginal minute safety dial design Type-I around 1906. RGM’s dial is inspired by the rare Type-II dial variation that was patented in 1920.

Courtesy of RGM

Here are the pertinents, straight from Mount Joy -

Dial: Glass Enamel, Grand Feu (“Great Fire”)

Hands: Blued steel in the classic Railroad style

Movement Caliber: American Made Vintage Hamilton (921 or 923) - 10 Size - Manual wind, 21 or 23 jewels,  18,000 vph. Rhodium, Circular Damaskeening.

Functions: Hour / Minute / Second 

Case: 316L Stainless Steel, 41.0 mm x 12.0 mm. Sapphire crystal front and back, 22mm lug width and water-resistant to 5-ATM.

Weight: 3.1 oz. 

The Verdict Is In...

And David has won!

Or in this case, R.T. Custer and Vortic Watch Company.

After five long years, Vortic has emerged the winner in the case that was brought by Hamilton (you know, that tiny little micro brand owned by SWATCH Group). Long story short, Hamilton asserted that Vortic was guilty of (in all honesty) a laundry list of things that in the end were not proven in the eyes of the court. 

And if nothing else? For this small outlet we are always happy to see right triumph over might ; )

Here is the release, straight from Vortic -

Vortic Watch Company Wins Landmark Lawsuit Against Swatch Group Brand, Hamilton

U.S. Federal Judge’s ruling sets precedent for the entire upcycling industry.

Fort Collins, CO (September 14, 2020) — Vortic Watch Company announces victory in a trademark case filed against the company by Hamilton Watch International, a Swatch Group brand. In a decision made by the U.S. Federal Court on September 11, 2020, the judge ruled in favor of Vortic on all counts. After a five-year battle, Federal Judge Alison Nathan determined Vortic has the right to salvage and restore antique pocket watches and turn them into wristwatches, including those that bear the Hamilton trademark.

“I always knew what we did was not wrong and did not violate trademark law.  What we do celebrates and preserves these wonderful antique watches,” says R.T. Custer, co-founder of Vortic. “I’m so thankful the U.S. justice system validated that and protected our American Dream.”

The Swatch Group, a Swiss conglomerate which oversees the once-American Hamilton brand, accused Vortic of trademark infringement and counterfeiting in 2015. The case finally culminated in February 2020 with a bench trial in the Southern District of New York.

“We’re happy with the precedent that’s been set in this historic case,” says Vortic’s attorney, Robert Lantz. “We demonstrated that the business model of upcycling antique pocket watches into wristwatches is fair and legal. Moreover, the Court’s ruling protects thousands of American small businesses that preserve history, and enhance or find new uses for antique products.”

Vortic successfully presented its efforts to avoid any consumer confusion in advertisements by describing its watches as works of art – “a museum on the wrist.”

“I couldn’t be prouder of both my team and the Justice System.” says Custer. “We won one for the little guys today.  This was truly a David vs. Goliath case.”

Downsizing - Change Is Inevitable

Now it is not news at this point, SWATCH Group has made the difficult decision to permanently shutter several of its retail stores, and 2,400 jobs are now forfeit. More detail on this can be found in this Bloomberg article -
Swatch Cuts 2,400 Jobs as Watchmaker Trims Store Network

SWATCH Group is many things, and more than anything else, at this moment in time they are the canary in the coal mine of the watch industry as a whole. To put it simply, if SWATCH is hurting, how is everyone else doing? Well, the simple answer is that some brands are (at least by most accounts) doing okay - i.e. Rolex and Patek. But other brands (and sorry SWATCH, some of your babies are in this group) are suffering now from a lack of vision. 

And what do I mean by that? 
Back at the turn of the century, everyone was convinced that Hayek the Elder was the smartest man in Watch Town and (for the most part) incapable of error. And there were some very sharp ideas, and let's be honest, some that could have been better handled. And as it applies to the actions now being taken to close company owned stores, it underscores what had been a long simmering concern with the push to not only "control the means of production" but also to try and control the means of consumption. The amount of grey market products sloshing around doesn't exactly help. The move to exclusive boutiques was maybe (maybe) not the best advised. Here in Boston-Metro we have two pretty glaring errors, the Omega boutique in that (insert sarcasm here) highly visited Boston neighborhood - Natick! For those of you unfamiliar, Natick is actually a different town (yes, designated a town, not a city), in a completely different county, more than 20 miles away from Boston (depending on which route you drive, because... no convenient form of public transit goes from there to Boston unless taking two buses and walking just under a mile is convenient). Ironically, there was, and still is a lot of good retail opportunity in downtown Boston. 

And then there was the SWATCH boutique at Boston's Logan airport. Now logic would tell you that airports are natural choices. But... it was in the International Terminal, and another little factoid about flights in and out of Logan for the uninitiated?  A lot of international flights DO NOT leave from the International Terminal. Strange but true!

Curious to relate? There is a thriving (albeit, pre-COVID) retail neighborhood on Newbury Street, and a boatload of space in the Prudential Center as well as the adjoining Copley Place shopping center. My best sense of these two decisions is that they were taken by people who really did not understand Boston, and really did not put in much effort to do so.

And let's now connect the dots - the majority of watch retail is (for the foreseeable future) going to be online. Now also curious to relate - I can buy an Omega watch online from Omega, and I can buy a SWATCH directly from them. Come to think of it, I can buy a:
Tissot
Hamilton
RADO
but not a Mido, not a Longines... and both of those brands are priced more affordably than Omega. Why not join the 21st century?

SWATCH Group, it is time to pivot. 

And Justice For All

So for those of you who have been gently napping, as a public service announcement we remind you that today is a very big day in the watch business here in the US.  In fact, it goes well beyond that.  Today, in New York City there will hopefully be a final determination regarding Hamilton's legal action against Vortic.  

Again, for those pulling a Rip Van Winkle, Vortic is a brand based out of Colorado that, essentially, up-cycles abandoned, forgotten pocket watches.  Old cases, dials, hands and movements enter a cocoon in Fort Collins, Colorado, and emerge as wrist-born butterflies.  Long dormant family heirlooms enjoy a second life.  To quote Elvis Presley in "It Happened at the World's Fair" -
"Happy ending, happy ending
give me a story with a happy ending".

I mean, everybody loves a happy ending, right?
Well, maybe not so much... 
I refer you to the following article -

IS SELLING A RECONDITIONED PRODUCT TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT? HAMILTON V. VORTIC

What is particularly telling in this whole drama is the manner in which the person responsible for Hamilton's arguments has artfully avoided actually, I don't know, participating.  I refer you to  

the following from Justicia Law:

Hamilton International Ltd. v. Vortic LLC et al, No. 1:2017cv05575 - Document 63 (S.D.N.Y. 2018)

As mentioned in a previous piece, the very notion that the key technical representative for Hamilton could not appear in court because the cost would be too high, is pretty difficult to accept considering the amounts of money Hamilton, and the SWATCH group at large spend on events, pr, media, etc.  Don't get me wrong, I love comped first class press junkets as much as the next watch dog, but if you can afford to pay for not-so-widely read journalists to travel to  various events, sponsor racing airplanes, etc., I think you can afford a business class ticket Zurich-NYC and a few nights of accommodation.  Moreover, let's keep in mind that it was Hamilton's decision to pursue this matter in the US.  

Will we ever know exactly what the thought process was behind this rather regrettable PR gaffe? Most likely not.

Was all of this avoidable?  Of course it was.  And what comes next?

Win, lose or draw, this has had an impact on Vortic.  For many of us who support what they are doing, we hope that it will have the Nietzshe effect, and that it will not kill Vortic, but rather, make it stronger.

And for the shot callers at SWATCH, I would ask you to consider another quote attributed to Nietzsche -

You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

Mediation pals and gals!  It will save you a shit-ton of money, and PR headaches!

Watch Assemblers - Some Inside Baseball

This is a topic that has been touched on here before, but it seemed worth airing out again in light of an article I just read on a popular retail-cum media outlet regarding the ongoing ETA saga. The article pointed to statements that Hayek the Elder made prior to the launch of ETA's one-way express trip to crazy town. His statement was, essentially, that any asshole could go to a white label company and create their own watch, and by golly, that was WRONG! He referenced a conversation he had with a fashion house who approached him to make a watch for them, and he pulled an Enzo Ferrari on him, essentially telling him to stick to making tractors (or, in this case, suits). Now history will note that the Zegna watch was realized with the assistance of Girard-Perregaux/Sowind, and it fared about as well as could be expected - not very. But I would also remind you, gentle reader, that this bluster came from the fellow who brought us the SWATCH phone, sunglasses, and...

Who could forget that unforgettable fragrance -


                                                                     Courtesy of Omega

Yes, you too can smell just like a Co-Axial escapement! So it would seem that a call is overdue from the kettle to the pot regarding its hue.

While it's easy to look down your nose at someone and tell them to "stick to their lane", it is a bit ironic coming from the man who had his finger in so many pies ; )

It bears mentioning that A LOT of the brands you see out there are using white label companies to assemble their watches. Some quite old and literally dripping in hyperbolic watchmaking lore. So, does this mean that those are no longer real brands?

Now for me looking back? Hayek the senior's hyperbolic characterization about the gall that some brands had in calling themselves, well, brands was a little disingenuous. When we talk about the world of modern (meaning in the last 20 years) watch production, marketing and sales, private label assemblers are responsible for a much larger percentage of the Swiss watch industry than you might think. And I will pick my childhood favorite (and red-headed stepchild of the SWATCH group) Mido as a case in point.

A little over four years ago I found myself in Switzerland on other business and I managed to arrange a visit to Mido HQ in Le Locle. Now curious to relate, the HQ occupied less than a full floor of an administration building that was (at least at that time) shared with Tissot. I had asked if it was possible to visit the factory to see Mido assembly in action, and I received a fairly evasive response that essentially made it clear that for whatever reason, this would not be possible. When I asked where the assembly took place, this again was not anything that anyone was anxious or willing to share with me. Ever wonder why the factory pictures you see for some of the SWATCH brands are all "old timey"? Ever wonder why you don't see other heroic journalists visiting brand production sites other than Omega, Blancpain, and Breguet? Ever see leading horological luminaries of the Fourth and Fifth Estate visiting and reporting on the production facilities of some of the smaller, more affordable, less sexy brands in the SWATCH stable?

Yeah, not so much.

A reasonable assumption would be that the SWATCH group relies on a large internal facility or facilities to assemble these more mass market watches for several of the group's brands. In essence, a private label - private label.  We would all agree that these are real brands, would we not? And for the record, if I am way off base and there is a shiny (or even not-so-shiny) Mido or Certina factory churning out watches in the Alpine hinterlands? Well, I will sit in the corner and wear a funny hat.

But taken with Hayek Senior's hardline stance on what made a brand legitimate?

Well...

We Sail Tonight For Singapore - Part the Third

From Singapore, by Tom Waits - 

We sail tonight for Singapore
Take your blankets from the floor
Wash your mouth out by the door
The whole town is made of iron ore
Every witness turns to steam
They all become Italian dreams
Fill your pockets up with earth
Get yourself a dollar’s worth
Away boys, away boys, heave away

So the November numbers are in, and because it appears to be my lot in life to be (if not the lone) one of the few contrarians out there in the watch world, here goes -

Courtesy of the FH

Again, the image is sort of fuzzy, and I do apologize for that.  But truth be told, the results are more than just a wee-bit fuzzy themselves.

The first thing to notice is that the numbers are going rather retro.  Now in fairness, they are much better than this time last year.  But if we are looking at them objectively, it is safe to say that they have been slipping the last 3 months.  And it is also safe to say that the only reason that they are as good as they are, is the push to shove as much product across the borders of the various cantons before the new regulations go into force.  

But then it gets more interesting when you factor in the countries that are "up" versus "not-so-up".

Curious to relate?

Mighty Singapore is once again back with one of their semi-annual market surges this time of (wait for it) +9.5%.

Now in the interest of total transparency, the closest I have ever come to Singapore was when my girlfriend (at the time) left Japan to return home to the UK and spent a week in Singapore and sent me postcards and letters from the Raffles Hotel in, you guessed it, Singapore.  Well, needless to say that relationship did not stand the test of time, nor do I suspect that the recent (again, semi-annual surge) of watch exports to Singapore, truly signals their emergence as a world hub for buying watches.  Now as a source to "source" grey market watches for global "discharge"?  Sure!

Even stranger, the US is apparently the darling of the industry with a mighty surge of + 17.6%.  Curious to relate (again) this export figure does not nearly match the (granted anecdotal) evidence provided by several US retailers that I have spoken with.  Of those I have spoken with?  Sales are pretty flat.  

Once again, at the risk of being, well, honest?  If the export numbers don't correlate with the "on the ground" feedback about actual sales, it tells you one clear thing that further informs other points -

1.  Watches are being exported to subsidiary offices to get them off the books at Swiss HQ.

2.  Watch sales are flat in North America.

3.  The grey market has PLENTY of product to sell.

The industry has not recovered.  Sorry, but it hasn't.  On the positive side?  Several brands have reduced their production to match real world demand.  The problem?  There was way too much product sloshing around that had to be flushed through the system.  And short of crushing watches?  That means our old friend the grey market.  The good news?  Lot's of affordable (let's call them price adjusted to reality) watches will now be available!  And hey, don't worry about the warranty!  You'll get some chicken-shit after market warranty for your pennies on the dollar purchase.  

It is a tired, skipped record from this d-jay, but simply put.  If you buy a grey market watch at a bargain price?  Don't lose your shit when that watch is worth even less than you paid for it when you are hoping to re-sell it.  Along with the grey market?  The Sunk Cost Trap is alive an well!

Enjoy your watches, and spend your money carefully!

The Real World

Regular readers will note a clear drop-off in the amount of posting coming from Tempus Fugit over the past few months.  And to be very honest, it has been a small break I have given myself to collect my thoughts on the industry, how it operates, and what role the media (print, digital, influencer) plays in it.  And it gets to a point where you have to call it like you see it, so here goes.  Today's topic is the sometimes misguided pursuit of being right -

1.  How Much Is Enough?  When making a point runs the risk of getting confused with reality.
Point of full disclosure, I have in the past done some freelance work for Vortic (arranging press appointments at BaselWorld 2018), the company out in Colorado that specialize in taking the movements of American pocket watches, creating new crowns and wrist watch cases, and selling them.  In addition to a large stock of movements that they have purchased from estate sales, former jewelers and garage sales, they also offer customers the opportunity to send in their own pocket watch to convert it to a watch that they can wear and enjoy as opposed to having a pocket watch sitting in a desk drawer.

What I have come to understand via a discussion started on Watch U Seek is that the SWATCH Group in the form of their brand Hamilton has decided to pursue legal action against Vortic.  Here is the thread from that watch forum -

https://forums.watchuseek.com/f71/vortic-being-sued-swatch-group-4823167.html

And a google search brought me to this summary of the case which can be found here:

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2017cv05575/477925/63/

Hamilton International Ltd. v. Vortic LLC et al, No. 1:2017cv05575 - Document 63 (S.D.N.Y. 2018)

I am not a trained attorney or legal scholar, but it makes for some very interesting reading.  One particular item in the document caught me off-guard as I was enjoying my morning coffee while reading, and the resultant impulse laughter caused said hot beverage to shoot through my nose and decorate the screen of my computer.  On the positive side?  My sinus passages are nice and clear, and I have a pleasant, buzzing sensation.  That portion speaks to what appears to be an active avoidance to actually show up and come to an agreement.  Essentially (and please correct me if I have misunderstood), SWATCH Group, in particular Hamilton, sued Vortic in the US, and named a specific person in Switzerland as being the authority on their behalf.  This person then did not show up or phone in for the first scheduled meeting, and opted to deputize another individual to represent Hamilton for the second one because... it was too expensive for the responsible person from SWATCH/Hamilton to attend and participate.  

Too expensive?

Well, let's consider some realities -

The SWATCH group recently held two (in my opinion) very glamorous, and I can only assume fairly expensive press junkets to Shanghai, China for OMEGA, and to the Breeders Cup for Longines, where members of the press were brought (I can only assume by airplane) to attend.  I am not a licensed travel agent, so I cannot claim to have definitive knowledge of what pricing would be (airfare, hotels, ground transport, wining and dining) for multiple members of the press, but I feel confident that it would be more costly than even a first class air ticket from Zurich to New York and a night at the Ritz with an afternoon cocktail at bemelmans bar.  More specifically, Hamilton seems to have funds to cover their continued aeronautical partnership with Nicolas Ivanoff.  Obviously every company has a right to allocate their monies as they see fit, and apparently sponsorship of a pilot is considered a very crucial budget line item. Now whether or not the court finds the argument of high cost reasonable is a matter for others to opine on more definitively.  I just find it curious.

Here's hoping that both participants in this legal action can have what is often referred to in the language of addiction as a "moment of clarity", where the realities of this legal fandango can come to the surface, a realistic agreement can be reached, and both sides can move forward.

As a trained mediator, I frequently get called in to help individuals and companies settle disputes either before they go to trial, or when the courts decide that the dispute brought before them is not really worth the time, effort and expense to actually go to court.  And in my experience, there is almost always a tipping point where the dispute goes beyond what it was really supposed to be about in the first place, and gets down to, well... let's just say that emotion clouds common sense and the participants lose track of what the issue was in the first place.  And in these situations, there is also a point where there is no longer winning for either side, only degrees of losing, for both sides.

 

Omega's New Five Year Warranty

News reached Tempus Fugit this AM that OMEGA had made the bold decision to extend their warranty to a new five year coverage period.  On the surface, this is very good news and it represents a true acknowledgement that the business has changed and with he glut of grey market watches out there, it is in their best interest to drive potential customers through actual brick and mortar stores (including their own boutiques).  In their own words -

GUARANTEED EXCELLENCE

OMEGA has continuously been able to raise the boundaries of watchmaking quality through revolutionary innovation. Only watches having successfully passed the most stringent quality control earn the right to reach your wrist.

Our quest for excellence has allowed us to extend the international warranty to 5 years, on all of our new timepieces purchased as of July 1st 2018.

Courtesy of Omega

PEACE OF MIND

The international warranty covers material and manufacturing defects existing at the time of purchase of your OMEGA watch.

If you face any issue with your timepiece during the warranty period, you can trust that we will provide you with the customer care you deserve and resolve it free of charge.

Your OMEGA boutique or authorised service centre will be happy to assist you and answer your questions in case of a warranty claim.

Note: Please refer to the operating instructions for specific information about the warranty conditions and restrictions or if you purchased your watch before July 1st 2018.

That last little bit of italicized fine print is important, and underscores some of the rationality of this decision. Essentially, make sure you bought it from a legitimate source, and if you bought it before July first?  Sorry dude.  In fairness to OMEGA, there has to be a clearly defined starting date, and in truth it would be just as easy for them to push the date to November 1st, so take heart OMEGA fans!  And the real question - will the rest of the SWATCH Group follow suit?  We shall wait, and we shall see.  

"Allow Me To Retort... "

So the communications team at Baselworld has offered a response of sorts to the Swatch Group departure.  And having read it, I am even more confused than before as to just what, exactly, Baselworld will look like next March.

Below is the text as I received it, my comments in blue -

BASELWORLD 2019 WITH NUMEROUS NEW IDEAS AND FORMATS 

Regret over Swatch Group’s decision to stay away –
Other big Swiss watch brands have confirmed their intention to participate
Well, at least in the very brief time frame between Sunday and Monday ; )

BASEL, SWITZERLAND, 30 JULY 2018 – Baselworld, the world’s most important trade show for watches, jewellery and gemstones, announces numerous innovations for 2019. The show’s organizers responded with regret to Swatch Group’s announcement of its intention to stay away from Baselworld 2019, but the show’s management contradicted the representation published yesterday in the Sunday edition of the NZZ, which claimed that the exhibitors had not been notified about the new concept. 
Brief editorial note - why in the name of all that is good and holy does an organization craft a press release where they speak about themselves in the third person?  It's like listening to a professional athlete or a certain serial watch brand CEO - "Yes, (insert my own name here) is all about hard work and share-holder value!"

René Kamm, CEO of MCH Group, says: “We extraordinarily regret Swatch Group’s decision. The cancellation is all the more surprising for us because this news reaches us at a point in time when new management has arrived with a new team, new esprit and many new ideas.” 
Translation?  "This is not our fault!  We shit-canned the last person (finally) and we've only just started!"  Which, if I'm honest, doesn't ring true.  Baselworld was back in March, and August is now knocking on the door.  That is nearly half a year.  Also, it is poor form to throw your predecessor under the bus.  You are the captain of the ship now, stop talking and start walking.

Innovative Communications Strategy, Improvement in the Hospitality Concept
Michel Loris-Melikoff, who became Baselworld’s new Managing Director on 1 July 2018, likewise confirmed that the transformation of Baselworld from an order platform to an attractive marketing, communications and events platform will be prioritized in 2019. Loris-Melikoff says: “Numerous new formats and ideas will be presented and implemented.” The event focuses on Hall 1 in 2019. The highlights from Les Atéliers, i.e. the best creations by independent watchmakers, will be presented in Hall 1.0 South, which was not used last year. Hall 1.1 will be the venue for “The Loop”, an area which will present an exhibition about the art of watchmaking (“Métiers des Horlogers”). A diverse selection of catering options, ranging from takeaway to an exclusive three-star restaurant, will be available for exhibitors and visitors. The catering areas thus move from the show’s periphery to its centre. Another highlight is the new “Show Plaza” in Hall 1.2, which will bring together the best jewellery manufacturers. A spectacular 240° catwalk with numerous LED screens makes it possible to stage jewellery in totally innovative ways. Loris-Melikoff explains: “This area will also be used for a wholly revised press day and a Retailer Summit, which takes place for the first time.”

Catering options?!?  So, instead of dashing across the street for a $12 sausage, I can stay in the hall (no fresh air or sunshine) and give the fair organizers $15 for the same thing?  Guys, give me a break!  The frustrations over Baselworld have SO VERY LITTLE to do with the lack of a three star restaurant right in the middle of the hall.  Also, no offense, but the majority of us heading to the fair are NOT in the general public.  An "exhibit" of the art and history of watchmaking is exactly NOT what I am spending a few thousand dollars and one week of my vacation time to cover.  The majority of us go to Baselworld for a few specific reasons:
1.  See the new releases so that we can either write about them or order them.
2.  Meet with brands and brand representatives so that we can do some business (sales, marketing, PR, advertising).
3.  The social aspect - many of us have rather demanding day jobs and, well, lives.  We cannot drop everything several times a year to go to events, galas, and PR dog and pony shows.  Baselworld offers the one opportunity to get a lot done in a short amount of time.

The promise of an "attractive marketing, communications and events platform" is only serving to underscore the misunderstanding of the fair organizers as to where the value is for the brands, the journalists and that little group that essentially provides the main engine for this annual shindig - the retailers ; )

SWATCH group has more than enough money to conduct their own marketing, communications and events.  In fact, they already do this.  They have their own cafe at the fair, so the promise of extended catering ideas is not exactly sweetening the deal.

Loris-Melikoff also announced intensive discussions with representatives of Basel’s hotel and restaurant industry, with the goal of achieving constructive solutions. The objective is to draw up and sign a “Charta” with partner hotels to guarantee a reasonable price level. In return, Baselworld would recommend the hotels as the show’s partners.

Yeah, I'm sure that's going to produce results...
"So, we know that Baselworld is your busiest time of the year, you know, when you make most of your money.  We know you're always sold out and that watch brand owners and managers put their kids on the waiting list at birth for a Baselworld room... but we were thinking that you could cut your prices during the fair back to normal, everyday levels, and in exchange we will recommend your hotel!"  And maybe they could convince Mr. Hayek to adjust the prices of Omega sport watches to more realistic levels while their at it ; )
Sorry, too soon?
The fair in and of itself will not make that happen.  Look no further than the Hyperion or the boats if you doubt me.  

A new communications strategy, which works with innovative digital formats and offers the brands a year- round stage for their products, will also be implemented. The chatbot, which was introduced in the 2018 edition and brings all relevant information directly to the user’s mobile telephone via messaging services, will be expanded to include services such as ticketing and navigation and will also be extended onto WeChat for the Asian audience. 
So, in addition to all of the Facebook, Linkedin, What's App, email, texts and phone calls that blow up my iPhone during BaselWeek, you want me to add MORE?  Guys, the issue is not that the information isn't available.  But I will suggest that maybe, just maybe you send press releases that cover a bit more than the big groups.  I SOOOOO don't care about Hamilton, Mido and several others.  I have no doubt you feel the need to keep brands happy, but consider some of the smaller brands that spend (for them at least) a good chunk of change to participate, even when they are stuck in the "hinterlands" of the fair halls.  They have stuck with you, they deserve better.  In your news blasts, show these brands that you actually, I don't know, care about them too.  You never know, you might need them more than you think ; )

The New Concept Was Presented to All Committees
Simultaneously, Loris-Melikoff contradicted the representation published in the NZZ, which claimed that the new concept had been implemented without prior coordination with Baselworld’s exhibitors. Baselworld’s management regularly meets with a national and with an international exhibitors’ committee. A collection of ideas was already presented to the Comité Consultatif in early May and the rough concept was presented to the representatives of the Swiss exhibitors at the end of June; the latter concept was then introduced to the Comité Mondial on 4 July. A high-ranking manager from Swatch Group was present at both sessions of the Comité. Loris-Melikoff adds: “Of course, I received inputs and these were accordingly taken into consideration. All of our ideas are conceived in close coordination with our exhibitors.”

Which, of course, somewhat contradicts the complaint that the new fair team had only "just started" ; )

The Other Big Swiss Watch Brands Support the New Concept
The concept was warmly received at all three sessions. “Naturally, Swatch Group’s cancellation is extremely regrettable for Baselworld. Nevertheless, we are convinced by our new concept and we will implement it together with the other key players in the industry”, Loris-Melikoff says. 
Having read some of the comments from the shot callers in the industry, I don't know if that is 100% accurate.  But I also think that if a "traffic magnet" is removed, you will be more likely to see more people, and in all honesty, they will probably do a "wait and see" for 2019.

Michel Loris-Melikoff emphasizes that the other big Swiss watch brands will also participate in Baselworld in 2019. Despite the setback which Swatch Group’s cancellation undoubtedly represents, he is undauntedly combative and will make every effort in order to achieve a strong Baselworld in 2019. Loris-Melikoff says: “We want to conduct the fair in 2019 as attractively as possible, in a new style and with a new way of thinking. With this in mind, I hope that a successful edition of Baselworld in 2019 will motivate Swatch Group to again participate in the show in the future. I personally would be very pleased to hold constructive talks with Swatch Group.” 
Language is a funny thing:
com·bat·ive

adjective

adjective: combative

ready or eager to fight; pugnacious.

See also:

pugnacious, aggressive, antagonistic, quarrelsome, argumentative, contentious, hostile, truculent, belligerent, bellicose.

Yea, I can't see how there could be such a misunderstanding as the one between the fair organizers and the SWATCH group...  

 

 

 

 

Elvis Has Left The Building... Maybe

Boy, you go to sleep the night before, you wake up and the world has gone crazy!


Unless you have spent the last several hours in an isolation chamber, you now know that Nick Hayek dropped the SWATCH bomb, and went with what American politicos term the "nuclear option".  As per too many news outlets to credit, SWATCH Group has announced that they will not be rolling out the red carpet for their retail partners, the press and the general public at BaselWorld 2019.

Now if we look at this on the surface, we can totally appreciate all of Mr. Hayek's reasoning.  The fair is way too expensive to participate in - tell me about it!  The returns don't justify the outlay, the watch making and buying world has become more transparent, yada, yada, yada...  

But there are a few things that, upon reflection, don't ring true to me.  First and foremost, harping about the cost of the building itself is nonsense.  Essentially, and I am paraphrasing here - that it is not up to the SWATCH group to help recover the cost of building the BaselWorld Halls in the first place.  Well, based on that logic, it should not be up to me, the customer, to help recoup the expenses of "maintaining" the Gerber-Crawford relationship, the massive construction project going on in Biel/Bienne, and the exorbitant rent for the New York City boutique/s with the purchase of a rather steeply priced Omega that I will likely find in the grey market at an equally steep discount a little later down the road.  So in fairness, to me this is a bit of the pot calling the kettle "less than shiny".

But if we go a little deeper, there are some other considerations.  Now on the one hand, SWATCH group posted fairly significant gains in their half year report recently.  On the front page of their half year report, SWATCH stated that "growth" in "America" had been particularly good.  Well, I can't really speak to that with anything specific, because I do not have access to the sales ledgers.  But I would point out a few key points.  For starters, SWATCH has a fully owned subsidiary in the US.  So what that means is that actual sales are a bit dicier to quantify from the outside.  The single biggest problem with trying to gain anything "knowable" from the Swiss export numbers is the realities of the new Swissness regulations - SWATCH Group and all of the other big (and small) dogs still have a shit-ton of components that were manufactured under the old standards, and they need to assemble and export them by the end of the year.  It is July 29th, which when you factor in the holidays (which essentially start in the second week of December) it's essentially four months.  Because when the clock strikes midnight, quite a few watches will turn into wrist-bound pumpkins.  So if you are running these brands, you know that by that date everything must be out of Switzerland as any of the remaining stuff can't be used anymore.  It's safe to say that this definitely leads to higher export volumes which (if we are being honest about it) don't really match up with what the real market demand is.  As a friend who knows about these things pointed out to me, Hong Kong‘s wholesale is dead but the export figures to Hong Kong continue to explode.  
Un petit mystere, nes pas?

So let me venture a few theories -

Paul is Dead

Borrowed from the world-wide infoweb

People of a certain vintage will remember this one.  It got their  attention, people were talking, until...
 

Courtesy of Life Magazine

So, maybe this is a lot of bluster.  Essentially, make the announcement, and make the BaselWorld organizers jump to the height you are requiring.  Simply put?  With the current state of the watch business, I do not think that there are sufficient numbers of deep pocketed brands to fill the vacuum that will be created by the SWATCH group's absence.  So it is possible that a spirit of détente will be reached by both sides.  Keep in mind, we still aren't even to September, if Hayek can go from a yes to no for BaselWorld, he can go back to yes again.  Stranger things have happened.

But let's say that, in Hayek's mind, to quote the Dude (The Big Lebowski) quoting President Bush (the first):

"This aggression will not stand, man."

And maybe, just maybe, he feels that there truly has been a seismic shift in the watch business.   Well, maybe yes.  But given the vast amounts of cash thrown into pr and media things for SWATCH group brands, I don't completely buy everything he is selling.  Because after everything has been said and done, while Omega can certainly manage without BaselWorld, the less glamorous brands in the group actually really need to be seen. 

My gut tells me something different (and in fairness, it is possible that my gut has shit for brains) but let me air it out for you -
I think that the reality is somewhere in the middle.  BaselWorld is crazy expensive.  If the feeling was that the fair was failing and that it's expenses couldn't be justified?  Well they would have walked away a few years ago.  But more than just the fees for participation, a big component of BaselWorld is the cost of the actual booth itself.  You budget for them, and the cost is amortized over time.  And every several years?  You build a new one (or in the case of SWATCH group - several).  Now I do not know this as gospel, but just a theory - what if the cost of the booths (yes, that is plural) has been amortized and it can go off of the books?  Well, then you have a perfect opportunity to walk away.  At least for one year ; )

Why might that be important?  Well, let's get back to that whole export / Swissness bugaboo.  The analysts would have you believe that the watch industry is experiencing a comeback of heroic proportions.  But the truth is far muddier than that.  Exports are up, but that is not necessarily a corollary to strong sales.  In many cases, this is just products being shunted out of the Swiss borders and over to subsidiaries overseas.  If and when retail stores start crowing about their record breaking sales (which in fairness, all of us would be happy to see), it is a dubious notion to talk about recovery.  So keeping that in mind, it also stands to reason that the actual number of watches departing Switzerland after December 31st might be, well, smaller.  Meaning that in order to keep shareholders and the analysts sweet, you need to find savings.  And although numbers like CHF 50 million are bandied about for expenditures during BaselWeek, I suspect that they could, in fact, be higher.  So if your sales numbers slump due to smaller production and export, you might want to find money wherever you can.

On the other hand -
You could cut some of your budgets, don't spend the amounts of money to fly people in and out, close the cafe, etc.  Savings could be found.  But that might not really be the point of all of this.

So whether this is hard hearted pragmatism, or Kabuki theater for the goofy, time will tell.